Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms

Classes and skills are well-balanced, and even though you’ll cycle through the small map selection quickly, they offer enough possibilities to stave off fatigue until Ubisoft adds more arenas. With more modes and maps, Phantoms would be a formidable offering, but it’s worth dipping into until then.

Considering this is completely free to play, Phantoms has a lot to offer in terms of tight controls, nifty cooperation and a neat ranking system. Given the fact that it will keep evolving, it looks like fans will have good reason to stay.

I’m torn. I really like the core gameplay of Ghost Recon: Phantoms and see it being even more fun with friends. But, there’s just not enough here and the frustrating micro-transactions only make it all the more disappointing.

Quotation forthcoming.

Give it a chance and enough time – and Ghost Recon Online will award you with catchy playability. Camera movements and UI polish are heavily needed. [Oct 2012]

It's not only one of the best looking free-to-play games, but also one of the most interesting and satisfying. [11/2012, p.67]

A well designed game totally let down by the software and structure supporting it. This could have been a must-play. [Nov 2012, p.100]

This free-to-play shooter from Ubisoft looks quite good, when compared to its competitors - Ghost Recon Online has great quality and a fresh, engrossing gameplay that is full of emotions. Unfortunately - good impression is damaged by a lack of polish. The game is imbalanced and clearly favors those choosing to pay, and these things can throw some players off. A few more months of testing would do this game good. In time it will probably be better, but right now it's a bit mediocre.

A great tactical shooter, but you'll need to fork out for the best gear to stay competitive. [Nov 2012, p.83]

For a free online TPS, Ghost Recon Future Soldier reaches a high standard. Rather nice visually, interesting for group play and with a deep learning curve and numerous customisation options, it's a rather nice contribution to the F2P world that Ubisoft makes, even though there is still too few maps and too high prices in the shop.

Even with a far too permissive gameplay and shooting mechanic structure Ghost Recon Online is able to satisfy players looking for a solid Free2Play experience, raising the overall level of digital games.

It's a small game which can be fun if you play with your friends. But other than that it offers nothing that will keep you playing. The different classes offer a nice change from your typical shooter but the poor balance during a match really spoils the fun. People won't stick around simply because it's free.

Ghost Recon Online is and average free-to-play shooter. The game should be appropriate for those who want something that requires more tactics than Call of Duty, but do enjoy a high pace. Unfortunately the maps and classes don't fulfill the balance-requirements that many hardcore PC-gamers will have.

Ghost Recon Online has moments of exciting and tense action, but they're fleeting events in an otherwise drab game that's plagued by minor annoyances and a cash shop that adds a pay-to-win element to proceedings.

The flashy free-to-play shooter Ghost Recon Online front-loads the fun, despite some inconsistencies.

A perfectly decent game that lacks variety. It's worth a look now, but if we see some new maps and game modes in the coming months, those should buoy Ghost Recon Online up significantly.

It's quite good, and we enjoyed its gameplay and its team-based offer. We have to wait and see how it evolves, but the base concept leads us to think Ghost Recon Online may have a very bright future. We deeply encourage you to give it a try, especially if you like tactic action and you don't feel like spending any money.

It's a shame that humdrum maps and a poor matchmaking setup occasionally sours the promising designs of each class' special abilities, but when it works, few free-to-play shooters grant such a memorable and thoroughly entertaining experience.

Ghost Recon Online has a great map design and matchmaking problem. Too many matches are ruined by the massive presence of snipers. Potentially it is a great game, but is ruined by its ambitions.

Ghost Recon Online is a great quality game, a fun multiplayer shooter with one problem: the lack of contents.

The market for shooters is so saturated that issues such as those detailed above could be terminal and it is not enough just to rely on the Tom Clancy brand to pull people in. There are some great elements to this game and you can certainly see it engrossing players, particularly with the abilities and tactics. But overall, more work must be done and hopefully Ubisoft is treating this beta as a learning exercise before full launch.

It's a fun, competitive multiplayer shooter that stands alongside its paid sibling. Now if only more people would learn to play the damn thing.